When I moved here back in 2002, I knew about the Dutch windmill. I didn’t know about the Murphy windmill. The Dutch windmill, also known as the North windmill is very popular with tourists and has a wonderful tulip garden.
Not having been raised here, I was unaware of the Murphy windmill. Also known as the South Windmill, it had fallen into disrepair. It was designated landmark 210 and efforts were made to save it.
The Murphy and Dutch windmills pumped the water that fed Golden Gate Park. After electric pumps were installed in 1913, they were neglected. By 1993, the Murphy had lost its sails, fan tail and deck. When I moved here, this was all that was left as the rest had been sent to Holland for repairs.
This last year, the restored parts came back to San Francisco and the Murphy windmill was restored to its original glory. It was a sight to behold.
Be sure to visit both windmills should you ever come to our lovely city.
i wondered about that windmill when i saw it back in 2007 when we laid over in sf to go to china. the city that weekend wasn’t cool as everyone had told me it would be, it also was very crowded as it was labor day weekend. someday i need to visit sf on a better day. i’d like to spend a little more time there and see more of it. i have pix of the windmill, i don’t recall it having a satellite dish when i saw it, but it may well have. i was so interested in leaving the US to go to china i’m sure i missed a lot.
oh, that isn’t a satellite dish is it? it’s part of the mechanism. silly me.
No worries. I do that too. It would be hard to tell you when to come. Winter is normally rainy. In the summer we have fog. Both are what keeps it cool here. When the weather turns and we have an offshore flow (wind), it gets hot.